Jack wouldn’t call him for idle chit chat.Something was wrong.Ian grabbed his phone.“Jack?Is everything okay?Is it Dolly?”Dolly had become a surrogate mother to him, as well as a confidante and a friend, and he did not want anything to happen to her.She didn’t have the best diet, and her blood pressure was higher than it should be.And–
“No, everything ain’t okay, you fool, and it’s not Dolly, though why she would take you under her wing and protect you like you were a baby bird instead of a vulture, is something I’ll never understand.She sees something in you, and that something has caused a rift between us.”
Ian rubbed the back of his neck, half-wished he’d let the call go to voicemail.“I’m sorry, I don’t want there to be any problems between you and Dolly.Is there something I can do to help?”Ugh, it must be bad if the guy was calling him.
A snarl and then, “I’ll take care of my wife.I do know how to have a conversation when I need to, unlike some people who just ignore the obvious.”
Okay, he had no idea what the man was talking about.“Meaning?”
Big sigh, another snarl.“Meaning you and Katie.I suspected something was going on with you two ten years ago, but I hoped I was wrong.But when you came back to town and started sniffing around her?I knew my suspicions were right.”A muttered curse, followed by three more.“The girl gave you her heart, and you broke it with your damn lies.Now I want to know what you’re going to do about it.”
“Do about it?I’ve apologized, tried to talk to her, begged her to forgive me, and I don’t beg.”
“Figures you’d say something like that.You wouldn’t have to apologizeorbeg if you’d been truthful from the beginning.”
This wasn’t going to go anywhere.“Look, did she tell you everything?”
“Everything?You mean like how you put money in her business and never told her about it?Or that you acted like you didn’t know anything about the engineer who was coming, exceptyouwere the engineer?”Cold laugh, a snort.“Yeah, she told me about that.”
“But did she tell you the rest?About how my father threatened to come after her because she was living in his house without his knowledge or agreement?Andhe’d come after you, too.”Ian cleared his throat, pushed out the truth.“He said it could all go away if I gave her up.Stopped talking to her, blocked my phone, forgot the foolish ideas I had that we had a future together.”
The man’s silence forced Ian to share more truths.“I couldn’t do that to her, or to you.You were always decent to me, even if I didn’t appreciate it or want it.You stood for something.And Katie?I…”I loved her… I never stopped loving her.
“Well then.You sayin’ you loved her?You weren’t just using her until you got back to your fancy ways?You sayin’ you only stayed away to protect her?”The man’s voice cracked, turned hoarse.“To protect me?”
Ian bet there weren’t many times in Jack Finnegan’s life when emotion clogged his speech.“That’s what I’m saying.”
“I bought that house from your father years ago, and Katie bought it from me last year.”Suspicion clouded his next words.“Why’d you stay away?You could have come back and told her the truth, so why didn’t you?”
“I wanted to, but part of me believed I didn’t deserve her or that kind of happiness.And the other part?There were a few times I worked up the nerve, but then I found out she was involved with someone, and the last time I was ready to tell her everything?I heard she was engaged.”
“Those men were jokers, all of them.They had manners and a haircut and some even wore suits.Not the long-haired tattoo stuff you seem to like, but they wanted to change her, turn her into somebody else.She couldn’t do it.”
This time, Ian’s voice cracked.“Nobody should ever try to change her.”
“Damn straight on that one.So, if you ask me, there’s a predicament here.And don’t think I didn’t figure out my wife was the one feeding you all this information.We had a talk about that, and she knew I wasn’t happy.I’m not one for getting into other people’s business.”
“Dolly’s been good to me, and she’s treated me like one of her own kids.I never want to cause problems between the two of you.”
A laugh.“Problems?I can say whatever I want, but that woman has a mind of her own, and she’s the only person who could ever set me straight and call me on my BS.When she doesn’t agree, she gives me theopportunityto see it her way.If I don’t agree with her, then it’s on me.Maybe shewasright about you.She saw something in you that I didn’t see or didn’t want to see.You reminded me too much of my son, Pete, and that boy caused me a lot of heartache for a lot of years.You came to town when Pete was still living the life in California, and we weren’t talking.Dolly needed you as much as you needed her.I should have seen that, and I’m sorry I didn’t.”
Was that an apology?Sure sounded like one.Jack Finnegan wasn’t as crusty as he liked people to believe.He loved his wife, and while he probably didn’t often admit it, he listened to her, he compromised.Like a partner.Who would have thought…?
“So, now that we’ve established how you feel about Katie, and why you did what you did, I want to know what you’re going todoabout it.”
“Do about it?Jack, I’ve tried everything.She’s not interested.She hates me.”
“Anybody ever tell you that love and hate are close partners and the people you care about the most are the ones who hurt you the deepest?Just ask half the men in this town and they’ll spill their story.If you don’t want to do that, Harry Blacksworth will provide a play-by-play for you with all of the emotion and the long versions tucked in.That man’s a talker and he ain’t afraid to tear up and let a few of them spill.Everybody screws up, no matter how much you care about the other person.But it’s the not giving up and thenever giving upthat marks a true relationship.”
Jack thought he and Katie should be together?Ian would never have imagined that.“You got any tips?”
“Well, the way I see it, you need to have a conversation with her, and you can’t do that the right way if you’re heading off to some other country.People do that when they want to hide, so my question is, are you one of those people?Because if you ain’t, then you need to see that girl, talk to her…” Long pause and a quiet, “I say you’re the one that’s got the right to be angry now.Ask her if she was ever gonna tell you about the baby.”
“Baby?”Baby?Ian sucked air, sank into a chair, and repeated, “Baby?”
“Yep.You’re gonna be a daddy.”
Katie was pregnant.
